Watchcase

ABSTRACT

A comprehensive member combining both the case-band and the glass is made out of one piece of a homogeneous translucent material. The peripheral wall of this member surrounds the watch movement and it is thick enough to be practically opaque and to hide the movement edge. The central portion of this member is, on the contrary, made thin enough to form a screen allowing time reading.

United States Patent [191 Klingenberg WATCHCASE [76] Inventor: HansUlrich Klingenberg, St.

Niklaus near Merzligen, Switzerland [22] Filed: June 21, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 154,761

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 25, 1970 Switzerland..9665/70 [52] US. Cl. ..58/88 R, 58/91 [51] Int. Cl. ..G04h 37/00, G04b39/00 [58] Field of Search ..58/88 R, 88 G, 91

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Gisiger ..58/9l X 1 March 6,1973 2,224,421 12/1940 Aaron ..58/9l X 2,256,200 9/1941 l-leilman..58/9l X Primary Examiner-George l-LMiller, Jr. Attorney-Stevens,Davis, Miller & Mosher [5 7] ABSTRACT A comprehensive member combiningboth the caseband and the glass is made out of one piece of ahomogeneous translucent material. The peripheral wall of this membersurrounds the watch movement and it is thick enough to be practicallyopaque and to hide the movement edge. The central portion of this memberis, on the contrary, made thin enough to form a screen allowing timereading.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures WATCHCASE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Withthe watchcases of this type, which are known in lo the art, thisone-piece member is made of a transparent material, such as plexiglass.To hide the movement either an opaque ring is inserted into theperipheral portion of said member or the inner surface of thisperipheral portion is coated with a paint.

There are also watchcases known in the art in which such a member hasbeen obtained by welding a ring and a plate together. In this event boththe ring and the plate consist of the same material, but the ring hascolored particles in suspension which render it opaque, while the plateremains transparent.

It will thus be observed that all the known watchcases have the commondrawback to require some additional piece or operation to hide themovement edge, because in each one of these watchcases the material ofthe member substituted for both the caseband and the glass is originallytransparent.

SUMMARY. OF THE INVENTION Furtherobjects of my invent-ion will becomeapparent inthe courseof the following description.

' BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Two embodiments of the watchcaseaccording to my invention are represented diagrammatically'and by way ofexample in the accompanying drawing.

ln the drawing FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment,and

FIG. Zisa similar'view-of the'se'condembodiment.

DESCRIPTION-OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The watchcase represented inFIG. 1 comprises a member 1 made-of sintered aluminum oxide n.0,).Member 1 has'thegeneralshape-of-a cup. Its-peripheral portionconstitutes a thick and :heavy opaque --wall la portion lb to which wallIa additionally confers a great mechanical stability. Thus, even if thetime indication has to be ensured in the conventional manner, i.e. bymeans of hands extending outwards to the periphery of the watch, portion1b may be substantially thinner than the known usual glasses. This isenough to render watch hands visible through portion lb, especially whenthese hands are black and the sintered corundum is white withoutcoloring additives.

With a watch having a digital time indication member 1 can be made withone or more thin portions which need not extend over the whole visiblesurface of the watch. According to the distribution of the timeindicators member 1 could be made thinner only at one or severalseparate places. At such places the outer surface of member 1 could bemade concave. The smaller the extent of these thinner portions of member1 the more their thickness can be reduced and the easier time can beread. Reading the time indications of the watch is, of course, bestensured when they are produced by light sources fed from the watchmovement. In this event, the screen portion of member 1 operates in asimilar manner as a TV-screen.

The manufacture of member 1 does not raise any problem. Beforesintering, the aluminum oxide powder can be given such a shape that thepiece obtained after sintering only requires a minimum of finalmachining operations. For instance, holes 2 and 3 provided for theattachment of a wrist-band and securing the watchcase bottom 8,respectively, can be bored after sintering. A boring (not shown) for thepassage of a control stem can similarly be provided across wall 1a aftersintering. Recess 4 provided for forming screen 1b, shoulder 5 for theabutment of the movement baseplate, recess 6 for a watertight packing l1and projections 7 constituting the wrist-band attaching lugs shall, onthe contrary, be

molded before sintering member 1.

For securing bottom 8 consisting of a metal plate.

holes 3 are provided in the lower face of wall la and tapped bushes 9are glued in these holes so that bottom 8 can be fixed to member 1 byscrews 10. Different securing means could also be provided for thebottom 8 as it will appear obvious to those skilled in the art.

Packing ll sealing the joint between bottom 8 and I member I can bepreviously glued or secured in any appropriate manner to either one ofthese two pieces.

Member 1 can also be sintered with facets so as to appear like a gemafter polishing.

The watch movement (not shown) can be held within the watchcasedisclosed in any conventional manner, for instance by spring meansbearing on bottom "8 and pressing the movement baseplate againstshoulde'rS.

The onlydifference between the second embodiment (FIG. 2) and the firstone resides in the attaching means which have been provided for thewristband. In the second embodiment the bottom 8a consists of arectangular plate made integral with four projections 12 at its corners.The end of projections 12 is overlapped so as to form anchoring meansfor a bar 13 to be inserted in the loop of a wrist-band. With a circularwatchthe bar in question could also be held by a single overlappedprojection of the bottom. This-bar would only-need have itscentralsection held by the bottom projection.

hide the movement, and a portion being thin enough to form a screenpermitting reading time.

2. A watchcase as claimed in claim 1, said member being made of sinteredcorundum.

3. A watchcase as claimed in claim 1, said member having as its thinportion a screen capable of producing time images thereon when lightsources are fed. from the watch movement.

* s a r

1. A watchcase comprising, in lieu of a case-band and a separate glass,a one-piece member made of a homogeneous translucent material, saidmember having a peripheral portion adapted for receiving and surroundinga watch movement and being thick enough to hide the movement, and aportion being thin enough to form a screen permitting reading time.
 1. Awatchcase comprising, in lieu of a case-band and a separate glass, aone-piece member made of a homogeneous translucent material, said memberhaving a peripheral portion adapted for receiving and surrounding awatch movement and being thick enough to hide the movement, and aportion being thin enough to form a screen permitting reading time.
 2. Awatchcase as claimed in claim 1, said member being made of sinteredcorundum.